Lock Haven woman convicted of murder inching closer to execution

Photo Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Department of CorrectionsMuncy State Prison is home to convicted murderer Shonda Walter, who is scheduled to be executed in April.A Lock Haven woman convicted of killing a Lock Haven veteran of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is nearing the end of a five-year legal process that could lead to her execution.

Shonda Walter, who lives at Muncy State Correctional Institution, is scheduled to be executed April 22 after Gov. Ed Rendell signed her death warrant in February, according to The Express, the Lock Haven newspaper.

“When she enters phase three of the process, she will be transferred to Rockview State Correctional Institution, where all Pennsylvania executions are carried out,” said Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton.

If the execution by lethal injection actually happens, it would be only the third time in the state’s history that a woman has been executed, and the first time a woman has been executed by lethal injection in Pennsylvania.

Walter was convicted in 2005 of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for a brutal 2003 hatchet attack on her 83-year-old neighbor, James Sementelli.

When Lock Haven police discovered Sementelli’s body in his home, they determined Sementelli had sustained more than 60 wounds, 18 fractures and 45 bruises to various parts of his body, many of them to his head, face and neck.

Prosecutors said Walter killed Sementelli so she could steal and sell his car to pay off court debts and gain entry into the Bloods street gang in Lock Haven.

Walter has exhausted the state appeal process for her conviction and death sentence in the slaying, and has approached the federal court for a review of her case.
Walter’s conviction and sentence of death were affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on March 20, 2009.

“Between 1915 and 1962, a total of 350 people were executed in the state, including two women,” McNaughton said. “Prior to that there have been individual hangings in county court systems dating back to the 1700s, and these included female inmates, but they are beyond our history.”

The three women who have been put to death by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections were Irene Schroeder, Shellie McKeithen, and Corrine Sykes, aka Heloise Parker.